CLEVELAND — Now that most Ohioans are social distancing or staying home, our coronavirus numbers are shifting. Dr. Raed Dweik, Chairman of the Cleveland Clinic Respiratory Institute, says it’s a welcome change.
"It looks like it’s been steady for the last week or so," he said. "We have the same number of patients being admitted to the hospitals as well as the ICUs."
Dr. Daniel Simon, President of University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, says they are also seeing a difference.
"Peak numbers of COVID-19 positive patients in the health system were about 120, and today our census around the health system is only 73 positive COVID patients," he said.
When it comes to equipment, both health care systems say they’re good to go.
"We have no shortage of beds, no shortage of ICU beds and fortunately no shortage of ventilators," Simon said. "We are in very good shape in Northeast Ohio."
The Cleveland Clinic has so many ventilators that Tuesday at the White House its CEO announced a ventilator loan program. The Clinic is also loaning out one its most precious resources.
"We’re sending ventilators and physicians to other hard hit areas," Dweik said. "Some of our physicians from the Respiratory Institute will be going to new York to help later this week for example."
Doctors say until we have a vaccine, we can still expect new cases to be diagnosed and hot spots to pop up. If there’s a second surge of coronavirus cases, both health care systems say they’re ready.